Swithenbank on song

CYCLING: NEIL Swithenbank once again stole the glory for ABC Centreville at the weekend, winning the Bolton Clarion Ten Mile event on Saturday and achieving a strong fourth in the Cumbrian 60 mile Road Race in Sunday.

NEIL Swithenbank once again stole the glory for ABC Centreville at the weekend, winning the Bolton Clarion Ten Mile event on Saturday and achieving a strong fourth in the Cumbrian 60 mile Road Race in Sunday.

Seven riders from Centreville made the trip to Garstang for Saturday's race over ten miles. Eric Walker returned in 26 minutes 55 seconds, whilst his wife Karen posted a personal best with 29.22.

John Burston kept his consistency up with a time of 26.38, with Gordon Perry pleased with his time if 28.27, fourteen seconds quicker than Kath Hill who rode to a very respectable 28.41. Youngster Kristian Ramsden also put in a strong performance to complete with 27.40.

The applause though went to Swithenbank who again showed his class at the ten mile discipline to race round in a time of 21.04 to again win the event.

It wasn't an easy day on the course weather-wise, most riders struggling to compete with the strong wind on the return leg which added around 30 seconds to the majority of cyclists times from last week.

Swithenbank, however, lost only eight seconds on his previous time and that was enough to seal victory.

On Sunday Neil put in another good performance to clinch fourth in the 60 mile Cumbrian event which was enough to consolidate his lead in the series.

Constantly attacking at the front until the group allowed him and a number of other riders to pull away, Swithenbank felt strong and went on to compete the course that saw him still sitting proudly in the series.

Neil is really finding his racing legs this season and is now looking forward to some premier calendar events where he will come up against the cream of British Road Racing. On current form, Neil need not worry as these should hold no real problems for the Centreville rider.